Improvement in devices for picking cotton



R. A- CUTLIFF.

DEVICE FUR PICKING COTTON. N0.183,37'5, Patented Oct. 17. 1876.

INVEITW ATTUBNEYS.

N-PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, D C,

UNITED STATES PATENT CFFIC'E.

RICHARD A; OUTLIFF, or sHREvnPoRT, LOUISIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN DEVICES FOR PICKING COTTON.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 183,375, dated October17, 1876; application filed August 23,1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD AMORY OUT- LIFF, of Shreveport, in theparish of Gaddo and State of Louisiana, have invented a new and ImprovedDevice for Picking Cotton and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description of the same.

The process of picking cotton by hand is slow, tedious, and expensive,and machines for the purpose have failed to come into extensive use,first, on account of their cost, and secondly, their imperfectoperation.

I have, therefore, devised a cheap but efficient means for facilitatinghand-pickin g; and the same consists of gloves, or other hand-cowerings, provided with fangs, hooks, or claws, inclined backward towardthe wrist portion, by which the cotton may be rapidly removed from thebolls. To free the cotton from the fangs or claws, I provide a brush, orother suitable means for the purpose, the same being attached to thebody of the picker in a convenient position to allow thegloved hands tobe passed across and in contact with it. The cotton thus removed fromthe fangs by the brush rolls off and falls into a bagor basket which isalso strapped to the body of the picker.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, Figure 1represents the invention as applied in use. Fig. 2'is a detail sectionalview of one of the fingers of the glove, showing the manner of securingthe fangs.

The glovesA may be made in the usual way of cloth, leather, or any otherthin, flexible, and tough material. The fangs, hooks, or claws B areattached on the inner side thereof, and also to the tips of the fingers;l prefer to attach them to the fingers, and also at the back of thepalm, leaving the intermediate portion free, to facilitate shutting thehand and grasping various articles, 850. The fangs are, in thisinstance, constructed of small doubled wire, whose shank is bent to forma loop, a. The fangs proper having been insorted through a fold of theglove, are bent backward toward the wrist, and the loop a is bent in theopposite direction toward the fangs.

The fangs are thus firmly attached to the glove as well as afford aprotection to the latter, by preventing their rapid wear from contactwith the bolls or stems of the cotton-plant.

In some cases I intend to extend the wrists of the gloves to formgauntlets, to the inner side of which fangs or teeth will be attached inthe same manner as to the gloves proper. The brush 0 is attached to thewaist of the picker by a belt, D, and the bag for receiving the cottonwill, in practice, be suspended by similar means.

In practical operation, the picker provided with my improved gloves willsimply extend one or both of his hands, and, in drawing it or themtoward him, will guide the fangs or hooks into contact with the cottonvisible in the open bolls, and thus cause the fangs to extract the same.The next movement is to pass the inner side of the hand or hands whichhave been thus extended across the brush 0 and in contact with it, asrepresented in the drawing. The cotton thus removed rolls off the brushand falls directly into the open mouth of the bag.

The action of the brush in clearing the cotton from the fangs isfacilitated by the form of the latter, they being inclined upward ortoward the wrist.

My invention provides a very cheap but efficient means for gathering acotton-crop rapidly and economically.

I I do not claim, broadly, the application of metal fingers or claws toa glove or hand-covering; but

What I claim is 1. For picking cotton, a glove or other handcovering,provided with wire fangs or hooks inclined toward the wrist,substantially as shown and described. p

2. The combination, with a glove, of the fangs or hooks formed of wire,having a loop, a, which ,is bent down to secure the fangs or hooks, asshown and described.

' R. A. OUTLIFF. Witnesses:

A. W. HART, 801.0 C. KEMoN.

